The Word Who Is A Person, He Has Made Him Known

Well, if you are not already there, please open your Bible to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1. John's the fourth gospel, fourth book in the New Testament.

John 1 · chapter mention

And so we're going to be looking at the first five verses of John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

Well, growing up, I was always a good student.

It was one of those things, I was just good at school, and so that's why I liked it, because I was good at it.

Except for one subject, math.

Anyone else with me?

I was not the greatest math student.

I have vivid memories, in fact, of staying up late with my dad at the kitchen table in eighth grade, agonizing over algebra.

I just kept saying, Dad, I just don't get it.

This is supposed to be math.

Why are there letters?

What's with the X, Y, and the Z?

But because I was a good student, I kept trying.

But my relationship with my math classes was never very affectionate, and it was always rather complicated.

And then I went to college, and I became a history major, hoping I would not have to take any math classes,

but I did have to take one, and it was calculus.

I was not looking forward to it.

But on the first day of calculus class, something was different.

It was my professor.

Dr. Piston made calculus real to me.

He was patient.

He was patient.

He used real-life examples.

And not only did he make math understandable to me, but he began to unlock the wonder of it to me.

He showed me the beauty of God's world through the language of mathematics, and I actually started to enjoy it.

In short, Dr. Piston made math known to me.

He warmly introduced me to it.

And ironically enough, my experience with calculus is very much what Christmas is all about.

For many of us, God is a bit like math.

He seems distant, maybe boring, cold, unknowable.

Perhaps he's kind of mysterious, kind of out there, not close, maybe even vaguely threatening.

Even for those of us who know him and have been in a relationship with him for years, there are seasons when he seems particularly absent or distant or not very real.

I'm sure most everyone in this room has felt that way at one time or another about God.

And the Bible explains why that's the case.

Each of us is born with a heart that's naturally opposed to God.

Because we were born with a nature bent toward ourselves, not toward God and his way.

So even if you know about God, maybe you were raised in the church your whole life, it's easy to think about God as distant or unknown, maybe even threatening.

A guy who kind of frowns on us a lot.

All this is a perspective problem.

We have a bent and fractured understanding of who God is because of our bent and fractured sinful hearts.

So if our perspective is so shattered, how do we begin to know God?

How can we not just begin to understand him as he truly is, but begin to wonder at him, to enjoy him as he truly is?

Well, we need a Dr. Piston.

We need someone to introduce us to him, to make him known to us.

And in John 1, we're introduced to just such a person.

Someone who's able to show us exactly who God is.

Not only so that we can understand some facts about him, but that we can know him personally.

And have a life-giving relationship with him.

And what the Apostle John is going to tell us is that we can only know God through the unique person of Jesus Christ, the Word.

We can only know him through the unique person of Jesus.

So for the next few Sundays during Advent, we're going to explore the first 18 verses of John's Gospel together.

We're going to mine its depths to understand who this Word person is.

His person, which I'm going to talk about today.

Next week, his mission.

And the week after that, his glory.

This morning, let's look at the first part of this passage.

Verses 1 to 5 to discover who this Word is, who is a person.

And here, we're going to discover that John makes four claims about this unique person of the Word who makes God known to us.

Four claims.

Let's start with the first one.

It's found, the very first phrase, it's this claim.

He is God's perfect self-expression.

The Word is God's perfect self-expression.

In the beginning was the Word.

The Word.

Why start with the Word?

Well, not all, but many of John's original readers would have had some familiarity with who Jesus of Nazareth was.

He seems to have written his gospel to kind of a wide audience, but maybe particularly for believers who already knew and trusted in Jesus,

and maybe folks who were curious about who this Jesus was.

So most folks who read this gospel would be coming to these words with an assumption that this book is about Jesus of Nazareth.

So it's a little curious why John starts with, in the beginning was the Word.

It's a little curious.

He doesn't actually mention Jesus by name until verse 17.

But he starts with the Word.

Well, it's not really curious.

Actually, it's brilliant.

Pretend for a moment that you couldn't write or speak or sign or communicate with anyone in any way at all.

Now, people could see you.

They could observe your patterns of behavior.

They could study your daily rhythms.

They could discover a lot of things about you.

But even if they were with you 24-7, would they know you?

No.

Of course not.

We're known by our words.

We know others by their words.

It's the way we express our feelings, our values, our priorities, who we are.

And it's the same with God.

God, from the very beginning, has been a talking God.

And amazingly, he's not talking in some heavenly language.

No, he's speaking in human languages that we can actually understand.

He wants to be known by us.

He wants us to understand him.

And he has given us his recorded word written down in human history and preserved through the centuries so that we might understand and have a personal relationship with him.

In the Old Testament, God's word is seen to be the way he expresses himself personally and powerfully to his people, particularly as their creator, as their ruler, and their rescuer.

By his word, God creates something out of nothing.

That's how the Bible begins.

By his word, God speaks so that his people know how to live well under his rule.

He tells Adam and Eve, enjoy the garden.

Don't eat from that tree.

He rules over them by his word.

But also by his word, God rescues his people again and again from their own foolishness and sinfulness.

Just read the prophets.

God's speaking his rescuing words to his people.

So it's by his word that God expresses himself personally to his people as their creator, their ruler, and their rescuer.

So it's no surprise that John then chooses the word as the title for the one who is God's mirror image.

As our creator, ruler, and rescuer.

He is God's perfect self-expression.

If you drive up the road a little bit north to the Milwaukee Art Museum, you will probably find some examples of human self-expression.

Through creative mediums like painting or sculpture, photography.

You might even find really odd self-expressions.

It's like the banana duct taped to a wall that sold for $120,000 this last week at an art gallery in Miami.

Self-expression.

But human self-expressions are only partial and they're often corrupt.

But this word, this self-expression of God is the one and only pure, full, undiluted, walking and talking expression of who God is.

Later on in John's Gospel in chapter 14, one of Jesus' disciples, Philip, he says to Jesus,

Show us the Father and it's enough for us.

And Jesus responds by saying, Philip, have I been with you so long and you still don't know me?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

So when we look at Jesus, we see exactly who God is like.

Not partially, perfectly.

Three-dimensionally.

From every angle.

Jesus is God's perfect self-expression in a person.

Look down at verse 18.

No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the Father's side.

He has made him known.

So John is not just saying that Jesus is a qualified messenger on God's behalf.

Rather, he is the full and final revealing of who God is in a body.

What is utterly astounding about this word, who is a person, is that this word became human.

Look at verse 14.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Someone else has said, he is everything that God wanted to say to us in a person.

That's why John starts with the word.

He wants us to have very clearly in our minds that Jesus of Nazareth was God's perfect self-expression.

That if we want to know God, we must know Jesus.

He's our Dr. Piston.

He's going to introduce us to God personally.

He is going to help us not only understand who God is, but begin to wonder at who he is and enjoy him through the person of the word.

And it is that word that is the infant in the manger.

He is God's perfect self-expression.

And at Christmas time, we tend to focus on the baby that was born, but we must not separate the baby from the man.

All that he said and did was a mirror image of the mind and will and heart of God.

And yet, even as a baby in the manger, not being able to speak or do anything, we see God's perfect self-expression of grace and truth,

as God says later on in verse, or as John says in verse 17.

The simple fact of the incarnation, of the mind-numbing thought of God becoming human,

is enough to fully express the mercy and faithfulness, the grace and truth of God in the person of Jesus.

So that's, first of all, who he is.

He is God's perfect self-expression, the word.

That's the first claim.

Well, if we keep reading verses 1 and 2, we'll see John's second claim about the unique person of the word.

It's this.

He has the closest possible relationship with God.

He has the closest possible relationship with God.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

Well, John doesn't really mess around here.

He just throws us right into the deep end.

He doesn't start us off in the shallows.

With very simple words and just two short sentences,

John paints a beautiful and complex picture about this word's intimate relationship to God.

Look at that first phrase in verse 1.

In the beginning.

It reminds us of another chapter 1, verse 1, doesn't it?

Genesis 1, 1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

But here, it's in the beginning, the word was.

It doesn't say the word has existed since the beginning or from the beginning,

implying that he had some origin.

It's just rather, in the beginning, he was there.

Putting him pretty close to God, the creator of all things.

And that's where John goes next.

Look at the middle part of the verse.

With the, and the word was with God.

That word translated with isn't the standard word for with that the New Testament uses in its original language.

The word that John uses here not only implies alongside and in the same space as,

but nearness, intimacy, closeness.

We could assume that from his previous statement that the word was in the beginning,

we could assume that that was true, that the word had to be in some sort of close relationship with God.

But John's making it really explicit here.

He wants us to see an intimacy of relationship between the word, God's own self-expression, and God himself.

But not only that, since the word is in close relationship to God,

this also implies that the word is therefore distinct from God.

We don't have relationship with ourselves.

We have relationship with people who are other from us, distinct from us.

So here we see that the word is somehow other from God, somehow distinct,

having a distinct personhood that is in relationship, close relationship to God.

But then John drops a bomb with the next statement.

The word was God.

If we've been picking up what John's laying down so far,

the word has always existed in close relationship with God,

then we're all, they're probably thinking, okay, that's a little weird,

perhaps, maybe this word is some kind of elevated angel

or lesser kind of divine being that is in close relationship with God.

But no, John is making this astounding claim.

The word, who is God's perfect self-expression,

is not only eternally existing, not only in close relationship with God,

but this word shares God's very being.

This word is, by nature, God.

He shares in God's godness.

And yet, yet, this word is also distinct from God.

He's his own person.

And it doesn't just say that the word was somehow partially divine

or had divine qualities about him,

but that Jesus, the word, is fully God.

There's no other way to translate the phrase.

Jehovah's Witnesses might want to try to convince us otherwise,

like, oh, he's kind of a God.

No, there's no other way to translate it.

The word was God.

Well, I told you that John throws us right into the deep end.

In verse 2, John restates the same claims, just in a different order.

It's as if he's saying, yes, you didn't misunderstand me.

I did just say that.

That's what I'm claiming about this word.

The one who is God, has eternally existed with God,

and close relationship with God,

and he does share God's very being while being his own person at the same time.

It's almost like you can see the smile on John's face

as he's trying to see us work it out.

What a person.

What a unique person.

Listen, there's just no other person like this.

There is no one who has eternally existed in relationship with God

as God's perfect self-expression,

and shared God's very being as God,

and then become a human.

This unique person is the baby in the manger.

Don't be fooled by the sentimentality of the season.

The baby that Mary birthed is the God-man.

Divinity united with humanity in a person.

There is no halo around him,

no soft glow emanating off his person to mark his uniqueness,

but John is helping us see exactly who he is.

The one whose birthday we celebrate this month

is the one who had no origin, no beginning.

In fact, he existed before the universe existed,

before time began.

And people, ever since the first century,

ever since Jesus first showed up,

we're trying to nail this down.

How is this possible that God and man

could be together in the same person?

We kind of want to write a recipe for this mystery,

figure it out.

But the fact is, we're in the deep end of the pool.

There's no way we can swim to the bottom

and fully explore how this works.

It is beyond us.

John doesn't explain it for us.

God doesn't want us to go there.

We can't.

He just wants us to behold it and be in awe.

God's perfect self-expression,

eternally existing in the closest possible relationship with God,

sharing God's very being,

became a human.

And we're just supposed to have mouths open.

This great mystery must lead us not only to the end of our intellectual understanding,

but also to our knees.

One cannot celebrate Christmas flippantly if this is what Christmas is about.

If we do, we dishonor the God-man.

If we do not obey the Christmas hymn's words,

Oh, come, let us adore him,

then we fail to acknowledge the most momentous event in human history,

when God, the author of creation,

wrote himself into his own story and became human

to show us who he is and to bring us back to him.

And if that weren't enough,

if our brains can still handle it,

let's look at the third claim.

John makes another claim about the unique person of this word.

He is responsible for the creation of all things.

He is responsible for the creation of all things.

Look at verse 3.

All things were made through him,

and without him was not anything made that was made.

Apart from the person of the word,

we would not exist.

Nothing would exist.

Notice how the apostle states it positively,

and then just to make sure we get the point,

he puts it negatively.

All things were made through him,

then negatively.

Without him,

not anything,

not one thing would be made.

So that means that dragonflies exist

because of and through Jesus.

Spiral galaxies exist because of and through Jesus.

Music exists because of and through Jesus.

Gravity exists because of and through Jesus.

Tyrannosaurus rex exists because of and through Jesus.

Your next door neighbor exists because of and through Jesus.

Jesus.

Your spouse exists because of and through Jesus.

You, your life, your body, your thoughts,

your past, your present, your future,

you exist because of and through Jesus.

And then later on in Colossians 1,

Paul will add another preposition to that mix.

Not only do all things exist because of and through Jesus,

but they exist for him.

Not only do all things exist because of him,

they exist for him.

All of creation,

from blue whales to Jupiter to hummingbirds,

it all exists for him.

For his glory,

for his purposes,

for his pleasure.

He's the one that gives creation its meaning and its purpose.

If we see our own existence as existing somehow apart from him,

we're missing the very thing that gives meaning and purpose to our life

because we were and all things were created through him.

But like this,

is Paul,

is John just kind of making this up out of thin air?

No.

He's just putting his knowledge of the Old Testament

together with his knowledge of who Jesus revealed himself to be.

You see,

the Bible is kind of like a curtain on a stage.

It's slowly and steadily pulled back,

revealing more and more detail about what has been previously said.

So on the first page of Scripture,

we learn that God created everything through his word.

By speaking,

let there be light.

And there was light.

Psalm 33, 6 says something similar.

By the word of Yahweh,

the heavens were made.

So we already know that God created all things through his word.

But now,

John has given that curtain rope an extra tug,

revealing that the word by which God created the universe

is actually a person.

So this means that the Father and the Son

were in divine partnership

in the creation of the world.

And maybe you're wondering,

how?

How did that work?

Give me some more specifics here.

But he just doesn't go there.

And honestly,

the rest of Scripture doesn't go that far either.

because there are things that the human mind simply can't understand.

Again,

we're in the deep end of the pool here.

We can't swim to the bottom.

That's okay.

Who would want to worship something that you completely understood?

It's right and good for us to come to this and say,

I don't know how exactly this works,

but I see it.

And then John,

in the rest of his gospel,

he demonstrates this powerfully about Jesus.

Only the co-creator of the world

could transform the chemical properties of water

into delicious wine

just with his word.

Only the one through whom all things were made

could take a boy's lunch

and feed a vast multitude

till they were stuffed.

Only the author of life

could speak a word

to a man who was dead for four days

and revitalize every decomposing cell in his body

so that he walked out of the tomb perfectly whole.

And so it is this awe-inspiring word

through whom God made all things

who is lying in the manger.

He's the co-author of life.

He's the co-architect of the universe.

He is the co-creator of every living thing.

Without him,

we would not only know or experience

any good thing in this life,

we wouldn't even exist.

We owe him our existence.

But John's not done.

He has one claim left.

It's highly related to this last one,

but it gets at something even more marvelous

about this word

who is a person

who is making God known to us.

Here's the fourth thing

he wants us to know.

His life

is our light

in the darkness.

His life

is our light

in the darkness.

It's right there in verse four.

In him was life

and the life

was the light

of men.

Verse five,

the light shines

in the darkness

and the darkness

has not

overcome it.

So because all things

came into being

through him,

the first part of verse four

is just not surprising, right?

In him was life.

So this absolutely unique person

of the word

through whom God

made the universe

who shares God's very being

and nature,

he has life

in him.

Now we shouldn't think

of a Genesis 2

kind of life.

Of God breathing

the breath of life

into a lump of dust

called Adam

and making him

a living being.

Not that kind of life.

Because that kind of life

is a completely different

kind of life

that the person

of the word

is said to have here.

Our kind of life

is a created life.

It's a dependent life.

It comes from a source.

Our life is dependent

on other things

for existence.

Not only upon food

and air

and water,

but ultimately

upon God himself.

who is the giver

of life.

But the one

through whom

all things were made

does not have

that kind

of dependent life.

The life

in him

is not from

anything.

The word

has uncreated

life

that he shares

with the father.

Later on

in John chapter 5

John 5 · chapter mention

Jesus will say

as the father

has life

in himself

so he has granted

to the son

to have life

in himself.

That's the son

has the same

kind of

in himself

life

that the father

has.

A self-existent

life.

It's life

that comes

from nowhere.

It's uncreated.

It's resident

in his very person.

Theologians

from an older

generation

called this

kind of

self-existence

God's

aseity.

It basically

means

God's

from himself-ness.

and the son

shares that

same kind

of self-existing

life.

He always

has

and he always

will.

What does

John say

about this

unique

self-existing

life that the

word has?

Look at verse 4.

That life

was the light

of men.

Well

typical of the

apostle John

there's a

surface level

meaning here

and then there's

a deeper

meaning.

On the surface

it seems that

John

is just saying

that unless

we recognize

that God

the word

is the source

of all things

we can't

understand

our reality.

We don't

have the

light of

understanding

if we don't

recognize him

as the author

of life.

So Psalm 36

states something

like this

with you

God

is the

fountain

of life.

In your

light

do we

see

light.

God

being the

abundant

source of

life

is like

a fountain

ceaselessly

flowing

with water

and it

is in

the light

of acknowledging

that he

is the

creator

and the

source

of life

do we

actually

understand

what it

means for

us to

be his

creatures.

To understand

reality as

it truly

is.

And unless

we begin

to see it

that way

we're

deceived.

Otherwise

we begin

thinking our

life comes

from ourselves

and we

start going

off depending

upon ourselves.

only by

believing the

truth that

all life

originated

with and

is sustained

by God

himself can

we actually

understand what's

around us.

And so all

that John is

doing in

verse 4 is

just tying that

biblical truth to

the word,

to the son.

We must

understand that

everything we see

around us came

into being

through the

person of the

word,

Jesus Christ.

He's the

light we walk

around in.

Everything around

us has the

phrase created

by the

father through

the son written

on it.

Everything from

supernovas to

snails to

shoulder joints,

it all proclaims

the glory of

Jesus, the

wisdom of

Jesus, the

beauty of

Jesus, the

creativity of

Jesus, the

centrality of

Jesus.

So in one

sense that's

basically what

John is saying

here.

He's saying

unless we

recognize him

as a source

of our life

we don't have

light.

We can't see.

We don't

understand our

reality.

But I think

John is also

saying something

a little bit

deeper about

this light.

Look at

verse 5.

The light

shines in

the darkness

and the

darkness has

not overcome

it.

And then we

get further

clues that

John's not

done talking

about this

light.

He keeps

talking about

the light

in verses

6-13.

In verse 7

this light

is borne

witness to

by John

the Baptist

so that

everyone might

believe in

this light.

And then in

verse 9

we see that

this light

was coming

into the

world to

give light

to everyone.

And he

came to a

world in

darkness.

A world

that was

made through

him and a

world that

rejected him.

So we

begin to see

this isn't

just about

God's

the sun's

life being

our light

understanding

who we are

as creatures.

It's about

he's invading

the darkness

to bring us

light again.

yes he is

responsible for

our existence

and in that

way yes he's

our light

but the

plain fact

of it is

we rejected

that light.

All of us

from way back

in the beginning

with Adam

and Eve

to right here

with us

we ignore

the fact that

we are

creatures

dependent upon

God.

Adam and

Eve freely

ate from

the tree

of life.

they were

enjoying

God's

gracious

gift of

life

and existence.

They walked

in the light

of his

life

enjoying

the direct

and unshielded

glory of

his presence

as we were

meant to.

They enjoyed

him through

his good

gifts

they walked

in his

light

but then they

listened to

the one who

can disguise

himself as

an angel

of light.

He promised

that they

didn't need

God's light

they could

create their

own.

Satan's

dismal

lie

tells us

that we

don't need

the one

from whom

all life

and light

come.

We can be

our own

life

we can be

our own

light

we can

create our

own reality

where we

are like

God

but that

is like

telling a

branch

that it

can cut

itself

off from

the trunk

and plant

itself

as its

own

tree.

It is a

self-inflicted

sentence of

death

and so we

became creatures

of darkness

as Paul

says in

Romans 1

our foolish

hearts were

darkened

as we

declared our

independence

from our

source of

life and

light and

we no

longer knew

him.

Like a

rebellious

planet

breaking free

from its

orbit around

its life

giving sun

we hurtled

into the

outer darkness

of cold

and empty

space

where only

death and

destruction

lurk.

But just

as God

in the

beginning

expressed

himself

through

his

word

and gave

light

to banish

the

darkness

he expressed

himself

again in

the person

of his

word

to be

our light

and to

shine

again in

the midst

of our

darkness.

Jesus'

birth was

the dawning

of another

creation

work

a new

creation

the light

and life

giving sun

drew near

to its

rebellious

planet

the

uncreated

life

and light

of the

word

is not

only

our

only

source

of

existence

but also

our

only hope

of redemption

and renewed

relationship

with God.

As Jesus

would later

say in the

gospel of

John

I am

the light

of the

world

all those

who follow

me will

not walk

in darkness

but have

the light

of life.

Look down

at verses

12 and

13

to all

who did

receive him

who recognized

the light

and who

believed in

his name

he gave

the right

to become

children of

God

who were

born

not of

blood

nor of

the will

of the

flesh

nor the

will

of man

but of

God.

Only

those who

receive

and embrace

the light

of the

unique

person

of the

word

by faith

can be

restored

to a

new

kind

of

existence

a new

birth

born again

into a

new life

that only

the word

can bring.

And that

light started

shining into

the darkness

and it

created a

conflict.

The darkness

would try

its best

to overcome

the light

of the

person

of the

word.

Even as a

baby his

life was

plotted against

by Herod.

Satan brought

out custom

made temptations

to bring him

down in the

desert.

Religious

leaders planned

his downfall

that eventually

they succeeded

in doing.

The light

of the

world was

extinguished

in shame

and in

despair

on a

Roman

crucifixion

stake.

Darkness

had succeeded.

But in

the end

the only

thing that

darkness

had succeeded

in doing

was sealing

its doom.

For the

light that

it had

extinguished

exploded

again into

a blaze

of resurrection

brilliance

that would

never go

out.

And that

light still

shines in

the darkness.

darkness

because the

word that

was made

flesh,

the word

that gave

life,

it's his

life for

his own,

is the

word that

rose bodily

from the

grave and

who can

never die

again.

All those

who recognize

his light,

who see

Jesus for

who he

truly is,

and who

embrace him

by faith,

who draw

near to the

light and

walk in it,

they have the

promise of

eternal life.

So this is

the baby in

the manger.

He is our

only hope of

light and

life.

He is the

person of

the word.

He is the

one who has

made the

father known.

He's our

doctor piston.

He has

introduced us

to God long

after we have

forgotten him.

He is God's

perfect self

expression to

us because

he not only

was with

God in the

beginning but

he shares

God's very

being.

And he is

the creator

himself.

He is the

one through

whom all

things came

into being.

He is our

life, the

light who not

only gave us

created life but

offers us

eternal life in

the light that

continues to

shine unconquered

in the

darkness.

So how do

we respond to

this?

We must

recognize him

first of all.

We must

recognize that

there is no

one like

him.

He is the

one and

only true

word of

God, God's

perfect

communication to

us in a

person.

He is the

God man.

He is the

only way we

can truly know

God and be

rescued from

the darkness of

our sin.

Everything

revolves around

him.

So do you

recognize him

today?

God's

God.

You cannot

recognize him

and receive

him with a

yawn.

He demands

our full and

undivided

attention.

There is no

one like him.

You must

either acknowledge

him fully or

reject him

utterly but you

can't ignore

him.

Secondly, we

must embrace

him by faith.

it doesn't matter whether you've heard about Jesus all your life

or for the first time

once you recognize him your only hope

is to embrace him fully by faith

at the end of John's gospel we read the reason he wrote it

he writes

I wrote these things down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ

the son of God and by believing you may have life in his name

there is no life apart from embracing

this unique person by faith

the one who became human as God

to die for your sins so that you could have life

if you have not embraced Jesus by faith

move toward him today

talk to somebody here

whether it's an elder or pastor down here at front at the end of the service

or someone next to you but respond

he's your only hope of light and life

and for the Christians in the room let me remind you

that that life that we receive in his name

it's not just a future hope

it is a present reality

it's a dynamic relationship with God

in Christ

through the spirit's powerful presence at work in us

I don't know about you but

it's really easy for me

to get up in the morning

and to start thinking about God as if he's math class

distant

boring

unknowable

maybe even threatening

just this last week I had this happen

and honestly it was this passage that God used

to pull me out of it

to behold

the fresh wonder of who God has revealed himself to be

in the person

the unique person

of his son

so dwell on the person in the manger this week

remind yourself

of who became flesh for you

remind yourself of your utter dependence upon him

for life

and for light

that is how we continue to embrace

this unique person

who is our light in our life

now

and he will be forever

and lastly

we must not only recognize him

not only embrace him by faith

but we must adore him

this is

this isn't much different from embracing him by faith

because faith leads to adoration

behold him in the manger

as the incarnated word

behold him as the God man

God's perfect self-expression

when we see him

we see God

so we must behold him

and be in awe of him

behold him not only in the manger

but also in his work on the cross

in the empty tomb

the light who gave himself for us

and rose again to shine forever

as our only hope of life

so behold him too

as your only true future hope

he's the thing we count on

church

in the heavenly city

there's no sun

there's no moon

the lamb himself

is our light

both now

and forever

so come

let us adore him

let's pray

father

you revealed yourself to us

you made yourself known to us

through the person

of the word

Jesus Christ

father would you fill our eyes

fresh with faith

help us to see again

help us not only to recognize him

but to embrace him

to have life in his name

to depend upon him

throughout the week

as our life

and our light

help us Lord

not to walk in darkness

but to walk in the light of life

help us Lord

to see

so we may adore you

and have joy in you

in Christ's name we pray

Amen

haste

Have a nice day

moment

flowers

we pray

for God

who parece

to see

God

who loves you

and how

are we

our light

Good

we pray

we pray

them

our

hope

we pray

thank you

for being

helpful

folks

isches

Do me

this

we pray

we pray

good

ma

państwo